The Mistaken Bullet
by author's archive
Summary: A small rewrite of the scene of His Last Vow in which Mary's bullet hit John instead of Sherlock.
1. Chapter 1

Claire-de-la-Lune.

Just after he had gotten the correct name of the perfume he had smelled he looked up in wonder. He only remembered the smell he deemed important or if the wearer was familiar. Otherwise they are immediately deleted because they seemed unimportant to him. He was too lost in thought that he had not noticed that he had said the name out loud. Suddenly John's voice replied from where he was looking after Janine.

'Mary wears it'

Of course! Mary Watson, John's wife wears it! That's why he remembers it. But that doesn't make any sense. It can be someone else with the same perfume brand. 'No not Mary' he stated. 'Somebody else'

That is when he heard some noise from above. He looked above for a moment and then without another thought he hurried upstairs trying to make minimum noise.

'Sherlock!' John whispered loudly in hopes of stopping him, but Sherlock's already off, running across the room to the stairwell and hurrying upwards, pausing for a moment to look up the stairs before quickly continuing on.

John really did not know what he really was supposed to do. He didn't even know what he was going there. Then he glanced at the still form of Janine. The whole day was a huge question mark for him. He started his day by going to a drug den to find his neighbor also to found Sherlock undercover (that's what he says) by the name of 'Sheeza' (Sheeza? Really?). And then there was Mycroft and a drug bust and Janine. He never thought that Sherlock would be able to be in a relation. It was of utmost surprise for him. Then after that there was Sherlock talking madly about a criminal Magnussen who's house they were burglaring . Then after all that BIG turn of his **HUGE** Question mark, there was a final touch to the dot: the fact that Sherlock was NOT capable of love and Janine was just a key for his entry to Magnussen's house. What a day! And top of all that there was a bad feeling about something. Or someone. He just hoped that Sherlock was ok. To make complete sure, he followed Sherlock quietly to wherever he had run off to.

Up in what must be Magnussen's private penthouse flat, Sherlock walks softly along the carpeted hall towards where he can hear Magnussen talking quietly and sounding very anxious and almost tearful.

'What-what-what would your husband think, eh?… He ... your lovely husband, upright, honorable...'

Sherlock moved forward and peeped through the gap between the doors. He saw Magnussen on his knees with his hands behind his head and cowering.

'... so English. What-what would he say to you now?' Magnussen continued to mumble.

Standing in front of him, someone dressed all in black and wearing black gloves pulls back the pistol and silencer pointing at Magnussen and cocks the gun before pointing its end at him again. He cowers, whimpering and momentarily lapsing into Danish.

'Nej, nej!'

Sherlock slowly and carefully pushes the door open.

'You're-you're doing this to protect him from the truth ... but is this protection he would want?'

Sherlock moves into the room and walks a few steps to stand behind the person holding the gun at Magnussen.

'Additionally, if you're going to commit murder, you might consider changing your perfume, lady Smallwood.' Sherlock added.

Magnussen looked surprised. 'Sorry, who?'

The look of confusion on Magnussen's face confused him. Had he got it wrong? No that was not possible. There was less probability that he would get it wrong.

'That's not Lady Smallwood, Mr. Holmes'

That's when the women turned and Sherlock got the shock of his life – he wasn't that easy to get surprised. Standing before him, now pointing the gun at him was Mary Elisabeth Morstan. Or rather Watson. He was right when he found out the wearer of the perfume. At that moment all his deductions about the women, all that he had found about her came rushing into his mind and they all blended into one word. LIAR.

"Is John with you?" Mary enquired

Still in his shock he mumbled "hmmmm?"

"Is John with you?" Mary asked more firmly.

He nodded "He's down stairs" Mary nodded her head.

Magnussen slowly spoke "Now what? Are you going to kill the both of us?"

Still not moving her gun away from Sherlock she turned her head back and gave Magnussen a dangerous smile and turned towards Sherlock.

"Mary, whatever he's got on you, let me help." Sherlock tried to understand her and started to step towards her.

"Oh, Sherlock, if you take one more step I swear I will kill you." Mary replied in a somewhat exasperated way.

Sherlock slowly smiled "No, you won't Mrs. Watson" he smiled at Mary and looked at her "You won't".

Just then he started taking a step towards Mary, he felt that everything went in slow motion. He saw Mary's finger twitching to pull the trigger and felt a short, strong body tacking his own and a loud gunshot.

John had managed to reach the stairs without making any noise. He slowly pulled his gun from his pocket and started making his way towards he could hear some mumbling. He was sure that Sherlock would be there. Slowly he moved and he hid behind the door and slowly peeped. He could see a fully black clothed figure standing with a gun pointing towards Magnussen who was on the round and Sherlock himself stand in front of the door, not have announced his presence yet. He had guessed that the black dressed woman would be lady Smallwood but when John saw the figure her body towards Sherlock he felt his mouth dry. That was not possible. How could it be his wife?. His wife who had no family or any other close relatives other than him, his sweet wife who had a normal job at the clinic, his sweet, innocent wife. What would such a big criminal like Magnussen have against his wife?

He did not register anything Sherlock and Mary were talking about. He did not even announce his presence even when Sherlock confirmed that he was downstairs. He was just too shocked to act or speak. Then suddenly he remembered why he came up in the first place: to check if Sherlock was ok.

That's when he saw it. He had spent 10 years in the army and he knew when a gun was going to set off. The last thing that registered in his mind before he tackled Sherlock and felt the piercing pain of the bullet tearing through his chest was that, that the person who pulled the trigger was his wife and that the bullet was only aimed at Sherlock.

He felt a tear slide through his cheek and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

I would like to thank Arianedevere for the transcript of this episode, for which I am very thankful. Anyone who would like to visit page: .

She also has transcripts of other episodes too. please do refer. And also don't forget to convey your thoughts through reviews

* * *

Mary dropped her gun and she quickly scrambled for her phone to call the ambulance. Her hands shook, making it hard for her to operate the phone. She punched the numbers into it and she stammered the address to her phone. She dropped it and stood frozen for a while looking at John, who was being held by Sherlock in his arms. She felt tear run down her cheeks and not being able to see her husband in such a condition, she walked away slowly, out of the door, out of the building.

* * *

Sherlock let the paramedics do their work. After some arguments with the paramedic who did not allow anyone other than family to go with the patient, Sherlock finally managed to get inside the Ambulance. After all he was the only kin John had at the moment. John's parents were long dead and Harry would certainly not be appropriate in this situation. And well Mary…

After the paramedics wheeled John towards the Operation room, Sherlock waited outside and tried to ignore all the surrounding voices and tried to visit his mind palace. He couldn't, he knew it would be difficult as his mind would always wander towards John. He was concerned for his dear friend and his wellbeing, but he didn't want John to suffer any more. He wanted to protect his friend and for that he will have to find who actually Mary Watson is.

There should be something… something.. .

And with that he managed to drift back to his mind palace.

* * *

Mary never believed that she would ever have a complete family. She had no relatives, no friends to name. That's when she met John. At first, he was depressed, broken and weak. She had gathered him, she had befriended him. She brought him back to the world, out of the depressed shell he had created for himself after Sherlock had faked his death. She started finding him sweet and charming and she valued his calmness and his friendliness, and how easy going he was. They fell into a comfortable relationship, which she dared not to break. She was more than joyed; she was blissful to accept his proposal. She loved John, she loved him with all her heart and she would never even think of hurting him. She was sure that it would have been worse if she had shot Sherlock. John was not selfish; he would have worried for his friend. She was selfish. She loved John and she was ready to do anything for him. And now he knows. He knows what lies she had fed him, what she had fed everyone. She was a liar in his eyes now.

All the doctors involved in the surgery were rushing to save Dr Watsons life. The bullet seems to have torn through his lungs and he was in a verge of having a blood collapse. Well… they all believed in God and miracles and… wished for one.

John blinked the bright light out of his face. When he opened his eyes he saw that he was in a really bright room with bright white light making it hard for him to open his eyes properly. He seemed fine, his clothes were warm and clean and he felt no pain, a sense of comfort like home. His first thought was that he had reached heaven after he was shot by… he felt he would break down if he thought more about That.

Then suddenly the surrounding changed into a new one. It became warmer and and resembled an actual home. There was a familiar smell of tea and chemicals and no other place in the world would smell like tea and experiments other than 221B Baker Street.

But this 221B is not exactly like his 221B; here the flat was cleaner, neater and organized, just like the way he would want. But when he turned to get more view of this place, he saw that the kitchen was filed with experiments and the chemicals filled the kitchen table leaving not even an inch space. The fridge as he opened it had some fingers and a heart locked in a zip lock, far away from all the food stuffs in the fridge. This flat looked like it was occupied by a mad scientist cum detective _and_ a normal human being at the same time other than the just the former one possessing it.

"I think it is time that you woke up"

He wheeled around just to see the consulting detective perched on the couch just the way he would always. "What are you on about?"

"I think you are done gaping and it is time you come to consciousness."

It hit him forcefully. He was in his subconsciousness. That explains the flat. This was mostly what he wanted the flat to be and the Sherlock sitting here might just be his imagination. Then he decided to ask the question that has been bothering.

"What about Mary?"

"What about her?"

"Is she going to be arrested?"

"Nobody knows of the accident other than I, you, Mary and Magnussen "

"So are you going to tell the police?"

Sherlock was quite for a while, thinking presumably. He felt that Sherlock had drifted into his mind palace but that is silly considering that Sherlock just went to _his_ subconsciousness in his subconsciousness .

Then he opened his eyes and replied. "You and I both know that that is not what we what. Of course you want to know the truth."

Of course that was right. Sherlock never failed to be right. Even in his mind.

"What would I do after knowing the truth? She was going shoot you, Sherlock! Whatever she is going to say is mostly a lie! What she has ever told me is a lie! What do you expect to hear from her, Sherlock? That she mistakenly walked into a building and mistakenly had a gun and she mistakenly aimed a gun at you and mistakenly pulls the trigger with all the intention to hurt you?"

"John, Mary lied to you for a reason. Why would she lie to you otherwise? It is clear that she loves you, loves you a lot. Nobody would black Magnussen without a reasonable reason. John just look at yourself you are battling in your mind!" Sherlock came closer to him and held his shoulders. "Open your eyes. Mary I waiting for you, Sherlock is waiting for you, everybody is, you want to know the truth, Mary would not lie to you without a reason. Open your eyes John open!

In the operating room, his eyelids begin to lift as the heart monitor's blips become more regular. The surgeon looks down at him...

... And John Watson opens his eyes.

The first word he uttered was 'Mary'


End file.
